Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
The Utility of a Parable
The rabbis say: Do not make light of the mashal [parable or illustrative fable]. For with the aid of a parable, one can understand the words of Torah. It is comparable to a king who lost a golden coin…
Yalta
And some say that this halakhah was taught in a baraita: Ten things were said with regard to a cup of blessing [the cup of wine over which Grace after Meals is recited]: It requires…
Mishnah Terumot
1. If a woman [who was married to a priest] was eating terumah [the priest’s portion], and they came and said to her, “Your husband is dead,” or “He divorced you”; or if a…
Mishnah Makhshirin
1:1. Any liquid that is desired at the start, even though it is not desired at the end, or, if it is desired at the end, even though it was not desired at the start, [it] comes under the law of if…
Bavli Gittin
[The mishnah taught that] Hillel [the Elder] instituted a document that prevents the sabbatical [year] from abrogating an outstanding debt [prosbul]. We learned [in a mishnah]: [if one prepares—Ed.] a…
Ruth Rabbah
21. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:14). All kisses are of licentiousness, except for three: A kiss of greatness, a kiss of [greeting after] absence, and a kiss of parting. A kiss of greatness…
Alexander Janneus
Aristobulus’ widow released his brothers from prison and made Alexander king, as he seemed to have the best claim both in seniority and for his apparent moderation. But when he came into power he had…
Augustus Expands Herod’s Kingdom
At the end of the first Actiad Caesar added again to Herod’s kingdom, giving him the district known as Trachonitis and the adjacent areas of Batanaea and Auranitis. What had happened was this…
Pheroras’ Wife
Pheroras was greatly enslaved to his wife, her mother, and her sister, notwithstanding the hatred he bore them for the indignities they had…
Roman Tactics against the Jewish Revolt
Still the Jews’ patience lasted until Gessius Florus became procurator: in his time war began. When Cestius Gallus, governor of Syria, tried to stop it, he suffered varied fortunes and met defeat more…
Revolts of 66 CE in Alexandria
In Alexandria there had always been antagonism between the natives and the Jewish colony ever since Alexander, grateful for the Jews’ enthusiastic support against the Egyptians, had rewarded their…
Self-Rule under Empire
But you say, “How could they who were in captivity pass a sentence of death?” asserting, I know not on what grounds, that Susanna was the wife of a king, because of the name Joakim. The answer is…